Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Serenity Rose #1 by Aaron Alexovich ::
by William the Bloody
Serenity Rose is a witch. A real-live, create things out of nothing, one of 50 in the world witch. She is also a college student, an artist, fairly goth, and a cynic. Not since Mtv's Daria have we seen such a delightful, take no prisoners, the world is made up of morons apathetic sweetie.
The comic itself is supposed to be Serenity's version of a journal. She finds diaries to be too girly, so she did a comic instead. As a result, the book isn't really a sequential story. It is here and there, when that's what the writer/artist felt it should be, but the rest of the time it's partially random stuff she wants to express her views on. It seems to do what it sets out to do; give us a personal look at the gooey, sarcastic insides of Serenity's head.
The Good: Alexovich seems smitten with the idea of Serenity and wants us to be too. The art style is cute, but in the eerie Tim Burton/Edward Gorey/Leonore kind of cute. A lot of the work is "rough" meaning not inked, only penciled, and this doesn't take away from it, I think it may even add a little.
I love Serenity's character. Her way of looking at the world with bemused hatred is very funny and endearing. She looks at so much with chagrin, yet the only way she can outwardly express herself is through her doodlings and art. She has some works published in an underground circuit at her college, but many turn her down because she refuses to take any credit for her art, instead crediting them to various pen-names. I love the cutesiness, I love the gothiness, and I love the sarcasm. My favorite bit is the page she "gives names to her pains", where she makes up names for the various regular folks that can be seen around the campus common (the best ones: Ring-a-ding dude--dig that nutty lid! and The Wall--wants to tell me about the lord). I also dug the ribbing on the "goths" who desperately want to hang out with her; I get the impression they only want to because they think she's cool and they'll be deemed cool by association. That and these guys are just trying way too hard. Either way, her revulsion at the mere sight of them is great.
The Bad: Since some of the work is still in the rough, you can still see some "guide lines" (re: the standard separating of the face for the placement of eyes, nose and mouth). Also, if it weren't for her best friend's name, I never would have guessed it was a girl. She seems like a pretty cool character, just a bit androgynous. The jump-around-not really-telling-an-actual-story story may be off-putting to some.
Well, I liked it. I found it cute, dark and humorous.
B+
